Apparatus for heat-treating steel



Jan. 7, 1958 J. E. AYRES 2,819,055

APPARATUS FOR HEAT-TREATING STEEL Filed June 13.11955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1Ell INOUCT/QN (IN/7' l/VOUCT/OA/ UNIT INVENTOR.

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J. E. AYRES APPARATUS FOR HEAT-TREATING STEEL Filed June 15, 1955 5Sheets-Sheet 2 :EEE

Am All! L W INVENTOR. JAM 155 5. HY/PA-S .J. E. AYRES APPARATUS FORHEAT-TREATING STEEL Jan. 7, 1958 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 15, 1955Jan. 7, 1958 J. E, YR s 2,819,055 APPARATUS FOR HEAT-TREATING STEELFiled June 13, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTORQ Jams: '5. Areas Jan. 7,1958 J. E. AYRES 2,819,055

APPARATUS FOR HEAT-TREATING STEEL 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 13, 1955HI IIHW IIHIIHHAZZ INVENTOR; JA/VMIS z. areas" Unitd States Patent-APPARATUS iron HEAT-TREATING STEEL James E. Ayres, Detroit, Mich.,assignor to Induction Heating, Inc., Fostoria, Ohio, a corporation ofOhio Application June 13, 1955, Serial No. 515,093

7 Claims. (Cl. 266-4) This invention relates to a method and apparatusfor heat-treating steel.

Particularly, the apparatus to be disclosed relates to a device forheat-treating the throws, that is, the bearings of a crank shaft. T-hesecrank shafts, being of peculiar shape, are rather difiicult to handle;and it is desirable that they be not heat-treated in their entirety butonly at the bearing portions thereof, including the throws and thestationary bearing surfaces.

Basically, the two steps that must be performed are heating to apredetermined temperature and a subsequent quenching operation. In thepresent method and apparatus it is accomplished by first moving aheating ring around the area to be treated and then removing said ringand moving a quenching ring immediately in said area and releasing aquenching liquid.

It is an object to provide a relatively inexpensive construction whichis novel to the industry and which etfectively heat-treats the exposedareas in a predetermined cycle.

Other objects and features of the invention relating to i the details ofconstruction and operation will be apparent in the following descriptionand claims.

Drawings accompany the disclosure, and the various views thereof may bebriefly described as:

Figure 1 a side elevation of the machine showing the generalrelationship of the parts.

Figure 2 an end elevation of the machine shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 a vertical section of the top portion of the machine on line3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 a detailed section on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 a partial vertical section and elevation of the operatingmechanism for the cooling jaws.

Figure 6 a horizontal section on line 6-6 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 a horizontal section on line 7-7 of Figure 5.

Figure 8 an elevation of a portion of the operating mechanism taken online 88 of Figure 6.

Figure 9 a small view of a portion of the operating rack taken from therear of the device as viewed in Figure 5.

Figure 10 a diagrammatic view showing the system as it may be set up ina double machine operation with a single source of coolant and atransverse switch for power.

Referring to the drawings, the entire machine is positioned in and overa tank 20 or 22 (see Figures 1 and 10). In the tank a suitable frame ispositioned having a base member 24 with reinforced uprights 26 at theends which support horizontal slide bars 28. On these bars are mountedcross heads 30 which have V notches 32 at the top to support a crankshaft C as shown in Figure 1. Small slide rods 36 are also mounted onone end 26 and two support plates 38 (Figure 3) to support a slidingcover hood 40 which may be positioned over the operating station duringthe quenching operation.

The operation station is located at the central portion of the machineas shown in Figure 1. This station comprises two main parts, first apair of horizontal slides 50 on opposite sides of the machine (seeFigure 3) supported by upright members 52 which also serve to supportthe slide bars 28, and secondly a central cam panel 60 which isvertically disposed between and below the slides 50 to serve as a mountand actuator for quenching shoes.

On the slides 50 are transfer platforms 62 which are actuated byhydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 64 mounted below the slide 50. A pistonrod 66 connects to a depending arm 68 associated with the platforms 62.On the platforms 62 are blocks 70, at each end of which is mounted aheating coil ring 72 of semi-circular shape which is slidably mounted onblock 70 and urged to a forward position by a rod 74 and spring 76.Suitable induction coils 78 are located in the ring '72 connected toinduction transformers through leads 80. Thus, when the slides 62 areprojected forward by cylinders 64, they may engage resiliently at thecenter of the machine around a bearing to be heated.

The cam panel 60 shown in Figures 4, 5 and 8 is shown in section inFigure 6 and consists of a main panel plate 82 shown in Figure 8 havingcam grooves 84 which terminate at the top in inwardly projected runs 86.Rollers 88 and 90 move in these slots and are held in place by a coverplate 92, which also has slots 94 through which pins 96 project. On pins96 are mounted two slide brackets 98 which support it and upper endsquench shoes 100, these shoes being disposed at an angle to the brackets98 as shown best in Figure 3. The shoes are hollow and opened to thecenter, and the mounting chambers 102 and the tubes 104 are also hollowso that the interior of the quenching rings can be connected to a sourceof cooling liquid at 106.

The angle of mounting of the shoes 100 as shown in Figure 4 is such thatwhen the supporting brackets 98 are moved upwardly to the position shownin Figure 5, the shoes will come together centrally of the unit inproper alignment to form a quenching ring. The means for moving thesebrackets 98 upwardly consist of a triangular plate (Figure 5) whichover-lies plate 92 and is transfixed by pins 96 of the lower rollers 88.

This plate 110 is bolted to a toothed rack bar 112 by bolts 114, whichrack bar 112 is mounted for vertical sliding movement in a vertical slot116 in the cam panel 82. Plate 110 is also slotted at 118 to permitmovement of the bolts 114 which pass from the rack bar 112 to thetriangular plate 110. In fact, plate 92 can be made of two platesseparated at the center if desired. Cam plate 82 is also recessedcircularly at 120 to receive an actuating gear 122, which is mounted ona pin 124 which passes to the back of the plate 82. Mounted on the backof plate 82 is a rack block in which is rotatably recessed a spur gear132 mounted on the pin 124. A second rack bar 134 disposed at an angle(see Figure 5) projects to a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder 138 and isactuated thereby, the rack bar being guided in the block 130.

Thus, in the operation of the quenching shoes actuation of the cylinder138 moves the rack bar 134 which rotates spur gear 132 and drive gear122, shifting the rack bar 112 upwardly or downwardly. When the rack baris shifted up as shown in Figure 5, the brackets 98 move upwardly andthe cam grooves 86 move the top end of the brackets together to a closedring position. As the operation is reversed, the rings separate and movedownwardly to a position shown in Figure 3. Thus, by a synchronizing ofthe operation of cylinders 64 and 138, it is possible to have theheating ring actuated for any predetermined length of time around aportion of the crank shaft C; and immediately upon removal of theheating ring the quenching shoes can be moved upwardly to the sameposition and the metal to be hardened can be quenched to the desireddegree. When two units are mounted in tandem, as shown in Figure 10, theinduction transformers-can be switched by a transfer switch 140 so thatwhile one unit is heating the other unit may be quenching and viceversa, a single pump 142 being sufficient to furnish liquid underpressure to either one of the quenching shoes. I claim:

l. A machine for heat-treating circular portions of elongate steelarticles which comprises, a supporting device for said articles, adouble pair of slides on said machine,,eac h pair operating inadirection transversely to the other, one pair of slides supporting ameans to form. a closed heating ring when in operating position andadapted to be moved away from operating positionJand the other of saidslides movably supporting a means to form a closed quench ring whenmoved to the same operating position, said slides being operable in suchsequence that an article may be heated and immediately thereafterquenched.

2. A device as defined in claim 1, in which one pair of. slidescomprises oppositely disposed horizontal slide members on which aremounted supporting platforms for induction ring blocks which meet onopposite sides of a heating station and the other pair of slidescomprises a cam plate formed with vertical cam slots therein, a pair ofbrackets for supporting semi-circular quench ring members, each of saidbrackets being mounted at two points in a cam slot, and said slots beingformed to move said semi-circular quench rings from a lower spaced apartposition to an upper closed position at the heating station.

3. An apparatus for heating and quenching for the purpose ofheat-treating a piece of steel, such as a crank shaft hearing, whichcomprises, means for supporting said bearing, oppositely disposedhorizontal slide mem bers lt'orsupporting individually shiftable heatingrings which meet at a heating station to form a closed heating ringaround said article to be heat-treated and which are separable to clearthe area at said heating station, and means positioned adjacent saidheating station to support a plurality of members which are shaped toform a closed quenching ring, said means when shifted being adapted toshift said members vertically toward said heating station andhorizontally toward each other, whereby 4 as they reach said heatingstation they join to form a closed quenching ring.

4. A device as defined in claim 3, in which the last means comprises acam plate having vertical runs which converge at the upper end, a pairof brackets, each mounted in one of said runs on spaced rollers, andmeans for shifting said brackets simultaneously in a vertical directionwherein on the upward motion the top end of said brackets will movetoward each other and fluid conducting means adapted to mount saidquenching members at the top of said brackets, whereby when saidbrackets are shifted upwardly said quenching rings will be positionedfor transferring a quenching liquid from a suitable source to an articleat the heating station.

5. A machine for heat-treating work pieces comprising, a frame, means onsaid frame adapted to hold a work piece, first movable means on saidframe with means thereon forming a heating element, second mov-.

able means on said frame with means thereon forming a quenching element,means operable to furnish quenching fluid to said quenching element,said first and second movable means being alternatively movable to oneposition wherein said elements are in operative relation to a portion ofa work piece to be heat-treated and to a retracted position, wherebysuccessively to heat and quench such portion for tempering the same,said first and second movable means being movable in substantially thesame plane, the paths of movement of said first and second movable meansbeing transverse to each other.

6. The machine defined in claim 5, wherein one of said movable membersmoves in a generally rectilinear path and the other of said movablemembers moves in a curvilinear path.

7. The machine defined in claim 5, wherein said means on said frame isadapted to hold a work piece so that a portion thereof to beheat-treated is fixed generally in the same plane as the plane ofmovement of said movable members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,089,829 Terree Aug. 10, 1937 2,255,103 Denneen et al Sept. 9, 19412,282,322 Denneen et a1 May 12, 1942 2,517,607 Strickland Aug. 8, 19502,589,495 Hess et al. Mar. 18, 1952

